Nobel Prize and Categories: An Overview

Have you ever heard of the Nobel Prizes? This is an award that is given to anyone who creates an invention that could possibly benefit the world, but how did this come about? Alfred Nobel, a Swedish inventor who invented dynamite, read of his death in the papers years before he actually died. Now just imagine you are reading the papers and it is saying that you are dead. Many times we wonder who would remember us when we should pass away, and that is exactly what Alfred thought. He had a lot of money that he had made from his inventions, and he wanted people to remember him for his good deeds when he died. In order to accomplish this, he used his wealth to invest in an organisation that would recognise the best inventions on the planet. That’s right! This prize isn’t pinned to any one geographic location (as in, anyone from anywhere could win), and it is usually awarded on December 10 every year.

 

Alfred Nobel

The Nobel prizes are given out for outstanding inventions in Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature, Economics and Peace. The peace prize is usually chosen by a group of persons from Norway, while the other prizes are selected by various organisations throughout Sweden. This award, unlike a tribute (which is given in celebration of someone after they have died) is given when the recipients (the persons receiving the prize) are alive.

Some of the early winners of the Nobel Prize include Henry Dunant who founded the International Red Cross (an organisation that assists victims of disasters worldwide and provide medical assistance among other things); Madame Curie (who comes from a family of inventors) who received the award twice for Physics in 1903 and for Chemistry in 1911 (making her only one of four persons to receive this award twice) and Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen who won the Nobel Prize for Physics for his discovery of x-rays. There have been numerous authors, economists and countless other disciplines who have received this award yearly.

This therefore does not limit any one from earning a Nobel Prize, and not because your name wasn’t called doesn’t mean you didn’t invent something of international worth. Mahatma Ghandi never received his, and the association regretted this, but by the time they realised it, he had already died.

Aspire to achieve your dreams, and who knows, maybe one day, it will be your name that is called.

By  Kerry Ann Stewart

 

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